


Marching On

by lunabee34 (Lorraine)



Category: Star Trek: Uhura's Song - Janet Kagan
Genre: Backstory, Gen, Post-Canon, Storytelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-16 23:30:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16963539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lorraine/pseuds/lunabee34
Summary: Another StarFreedom tells the story of her failed Walks.A treat for Musyc.





	Marching On

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Musyc](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musyc/gifts).



“Tell us the story of how you got your name,” says WhitePaw of Srallansre.

“Yes! Yes!” chorus the other children. “Tell us the story!”

The kits at this medical facility are healing nicely. Their fur is beginning to grow back, and most of their lesions are scabbed over although infection is still a minor risk. They are still weak but feel well enough that they are restless and liable to be more rambunctious than is good for them. A story would help to keep them quiet for awhile.

Another StarFreedom to-Eeiauo thinks. She won’t tell how it happened, not exactly. The Eeiauoan children won’t appreciate that level of detail, and the doctors and nurses of other races listening in certainly won’t. Another StarFreedom is beginning to understand the concept of artistic license in storytelling with the help of Nyota and Sunfall of Ennien, and she thinks she can tell a story that the kits will appreciate.

“Very well,” says Another StarFreedom. “To tell you this story, I must start at the very beginning. On Sivao, where the North Star once beat like the heart of a child, my mother called me Sweet Whiskers. It was a silly baby name, a nothing name. I was my mother’s first kit, and she marveled at the softness of my fur, my tiny paws, the length of the whiskers on my small face.”

“Like my baby sister,” interrupts Stormfall of Vensre. “She’s so little I could put her in my pocket. I’m so glad she was on Betazed with my mom when the Long Death came.” 

Another StarFreedom reminds him, “They’ll be coming home soon. In another two weeks, the quarantine will be lifted.”

All the children chatter happily, their tails corkscrewing behind them. Another StarFreedom knows this is due to the influence of the Sivaoans and that their parents may not appreciate them using their tails for more than balance, but she’s not going to pretend she doesn’t have a perfectly good appendage just because the Eeiauoans decided to stop using theirs somewhere along the way.

“When I was old enough, my age mates and I decided to Walk to Sretalles. SharpTooth, Black Stripes, and I set out in the morning to earn our names. We couldn’t wait to hear the _welcome-homes_ at Sretalles. But just before we crossed the water, SharpTooth was killed by slashbacks, a kind of wild animal that lives on Sivao.” Another StarFreedom says this matter-of-factly and does not let any of the desperate pain she still feels after all these years bleed into her voice.

The children’s eyes are wide as they listen. They barely seem to breathe.

“Black Stripes and I climbed trees and waited for the slashback pair to leave. Then we went back to our camp to tell SharpTooth’s mother what had happened. Our Walk had failed. We did not earn our names. We were still children.”

“That’s not fair!” says WhitePaw. “It wasn’t your fault SharpTooth died. You shouldn’t have been punished for that. Watching your friend die sounds pretty grown up to me.”

“Maybe it wasn’t fair, WhitePaw, but it was _right_. The point of the Walk is to teach children that they must rely on others. They must depend on the community for their very survival and be dependable in return. All succeed, or all fail.” Another StarFreedom takes a deep breath. This will be the hardest part to tell. “After two years had passed, Black Stripes and I Walked again. Jagged Ear and Howler Walked with us. We Walked to Ennien this time. Black Stripes and I hoped that a different route would make a different Walk. But while we were moving through a gulch on the third day, the rains came. The waters rose quickly, and there was nowhere for us to go. We were all swept away. I found a log and held on as tightly as I could, but the others were not so lucky. When the water calmed, I was the only one left alive.”

Another StarFreedom does not tell them that they never found Black Stripes’s body, that Jagged Ear and Howler floated many miles ahead of her and reached Ennien before she did. She does not tell them that she plodded along as if in a trance for two more days to reach Ennien and that the only reason she didn’t kill herself instead of finishing a doomed Walk was because she was too tired and scared and hurting to think of ending it.

“When I went back to my camp, everyone started calling me Jinx. No one would Walk with me again.”

“That was mean,” says Stormfall. “It wasn’t your fault!” All the other children join in, the tips of their ears twitching indignantly.

“It _was_ mean, and it _wasn’t_ my fault,” Another StarFreedom agrees. “For a long time, I was angry and sad and alone, but then Catchclaw to-Ennien started teaching me how to be a doctor.” Another StarFreedom won’t mention that Catchclaw initially assumed responsibility for her because her mother left their camp and left her behind in it. “Catchclaw didn’t treat me like bad luck, and she didn’t treat me like a child. She taught me how to be useful. She gave me purpose and meaning.” She saved my life, Another StarFreedom doesn’t say.

“After more years passed, I was in the camp when we heard the _welcome-homes_. From the forest, strange beings came into our camp. They were humans and a Vulcan though we did not know that then.”

WhitePaw whispers to the kit next to her, “The crew of the Enterprise.”

“Yes, WhitePaw,” says Another StarFreedom. “The crew of the Enterprise. One of the women spoke to me, to me specifically, to Jinx. And she spoke to me first because she didn’t see Jinx when she looked at me. She didn’t see bad luck. She didn’t see failed Walks or an eternal child. She saw someone who could be a friend. I reminded her of her very good friend, Sunfall of Ennien, whom she had come to Sivao to save. Her name is Nyota Uhura which means StarFreedom.”

“Hey!” Stormfall says. “That’s your name, too!”

Another StarFreedom just swishes her tail. “I Walked to Ennien with Brightspot, the humans and the Vulcan. We all Walked to Ennien to prove that we are adults so we could solve the mystery of the Long Death. We were attacked by grabfoots and slashbacks. Some of us were swept away by an overflowing river, and we were separated for a time. But we eventually made it to Ennien, all of us, together.”

All the children clamor excitedly. Another StarFreedom shushes them. “Quiet down now, or you’ll miss the best part.” They settle, and she continues. “When we arrived at Ennien, we chose our names. Brightspot became Brightspot to-Ennien. The baby name she’d always hated became something beautiful and meaningful to her from the perspective of her new friends. Humans and Vulcans do not regard names in the same way as Sivaoans, so most of them kept the names they started with. I became Another StarFreedom to- Eeiauo because I wanted to honor my new friend Nyota and because I wanted to come here to meet you and help you cure the Long Death.”

All the doctors and nurses have stopped pretending to work and are avidly listening to her story at this point. Some of them have tears in their eyes. Another StarFreedom is uncomfortable with the overt attention, so she reaches out and captures WhitePaw’s tail with her own. WhitePaw squeezes back with all her might, and Another StarFreedom is more grateful in this moment that the Enterprise chose her village to visit than she could ever express. “And what did I find when I got here? Nothing but a bunch of kits with Noisy-Baby! If you can all manage to be good between now and bedtime, I’ll tell you how it happened when Cloudshape came to Sivao in the guise of Tail-Kinker to-Ennien.”


End file.
